Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded schools require pupils to wear a burqa or jilbab as part of their uniform.

The governing body or academy trust of an individual school is responsible for setting their uniform policy. The Department does not collect information about individual schools’ uniform policies.

Our guidance to schools on school uniform is clear that schools must have full regard to their obligations under equalities law, and act reasonably and fairly in the interests of all their students.

We would expect all schools to act flexibly in response to reasonable requests to vary their uniform policy.

The Department's guidance on school uniform is available online: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.